Policy Brief Series

The aim of this policy brief is to provide climate policymakers with actionable insights from research that can help them navigate the challenging environment created by the Paris Agreement provisions as well as by the recent developments in many societies and markets. While there are many tensions, we discuss three in particular based on CARISMA project results: (1) using policy evaluation in a rapidly changing world; (2) taking a firm lead while remaining on speaking terms with society’s stakeholders, on whom they depend for implementation; and (3) the need for cooperation while countries and companies are also in tough global competition for the world’s clean technology market share.

This policy brief sheds light on the question of what social implications climate technologies might have and how fear of and opposition to those implications are voiced by different stakeholder groups, and gives recommendations on how to respond. Findings from studies on bio-energy and carbon dioxide capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture of CO2 (DAC) and smart grids are brought together. Inclusiveness and openness are needed to avoid ‘one-size fits all’ approaches which might be challenged by communities affected by climate technologies, and to identify much-needed opportunities and co-benefits of mitigation technologies.

As international collaborative research and innovation (R&I) initiatives have the potential to advance climate change mitigation technology transfer across borders, in particular in developing countries, some industries have developed various international R&I collaborative initiatives to facilitate deployment of low-carbon technologies and practices. This Policy Brief summarises general lessons and identifies recommendations for stimulating international collaborations on R&I among industries for policy makers and for industry.

This policy brief provides guidance and recommendations to international institutions on how to get involved in climate change mitigation collaboration projects around research and innovation. It does so by looking closely at experiences of past and current research and innovation collaborations in the field of climate change mitigation.

As collaborative research and innovation (R&I) initiatives have the potential to advance climate technology transfer across borders, in particular in developing countries, European governments have put in place various initiatives to facilitate deployment of climate technologies. In the CARISMA project, such initiatives were mapped in a background report, and discussed in a workshop involving stakeholders from government, industry, academia and international organisations.

Research and development (R&D) in new low-emission technologies is increasingly taking place on a global scale. This policy brief present findings from ongoing research conducted by the UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP)on the globalization of R&D in green technology as part of the CARISMA project.

With the emergence of a system of voluntary pledges by countries from the Paris Agreement, attention will soon shift to the ‘review’ part of ‘pledge and review’. This commentary discusses the types of review included in the Paris Agreement and highlights evaluation and assessment of climate policies and their implementation.